Stupid copy protection: your consumer dollars at work.

[reddragdiva]

The movie industry is implementing a new and foolproof form of copy protection: release movies no-one wants to watch. Ha! Only kidding. Actually, they're putting big red blobs in the middle of the picture. No, seriously.

Meanwhile, the brilliant minds of the record industry have come up with the wonder of SunnComm's MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System - a system to make a computer running Windows play the Windows Media 9 versions of the songs from the CD rather than the audio tracks. SunnComm claims the system has been tested to RIAA requirements, no less, and that they have done deals with BMG and a number of independents.

Unfortunately, it turns out the copy prevention can be circumvented quite simply ...

... hold down the shift key when inserting the CD. That's it. That's all.

SunnComm's share price did not respond favourably to the news.

But wait, there's more! SunnComm are now threatening legal action under the DMCA against Alex Halderman, the Princeton Ph.D. student who revealed this detail to the world. For some reason, the world is pointing and laughing.

[Originally posted on mock_the_stupid and as two articles on Rocknerd.]

Update (courtesy ewx): SunnComm has withdrawn the threat, after the entire world and its dog had laughed a lung out. "I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research," said CEO Peter Jacobs. "It's 10 million bucks, but maybe I can make it back, and maybe he can learn a little bit more about our technology so as not to call it 'brain dead.'"

Comments

[vatine]

I guess you saw the "mobile phones and texting is the reason behind the cinema-going numbers going down drastically lately" article? Seems as if fast communication means the usual 1-2 weeks of "catch up to production cost" is now well down in the 1-2 days range. I expect films to require re-couping whatever isn't done as merchandising and product placement well within the first public showing in a year or two. Shame.

[reddragdiva]

That story would have been the very first link above ;-)

[vatine]

What? Following links in dodgy livejournals? When I can spend my time building frankenrouters from pieces of dodgy PC kit? I expected it to be a well-thought-out arsty piece of writing on how the standards of films have been exponentially decaying since the 1910s, complete with graphs and all.

[reddragdiva]

Rocknerd articles are all that and more. In three snide sentences! It's the wonder of fractal compression.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

more about Suncomm, those gormless morons, and their share price (http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200310/msg00089.html)

[reddragdiva]

Yep. It's a penny stock, and they're upset their oil has been proven 100% snake.

I so want the DMCA suit to go forward. Yes yes yes.

[baralier.livejournal.com]

At the rate they're going I'm wondering if some enterprising young legal minds might well set up something similar to the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund but use it to sue companies like SunnComm for prducing items that it claims are audio CDs which are not, under the legal definition, actually audio CDs.

[reddragdiva]

The pieces of plastic in question did not in fact bear the 'Compact Disc Digital Audio' logo.

[grumpy-sysadmin.livejournal.com]

Sure, but the packaging did, and you couldn't see the disc itself pre-purchase because of the cellophane wrapper.

I think there really is a case here.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

They've given up already (http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200310/msg00098.html). Personally I suspect they explained the details of their case to a lawyer, who then fell over laughing.

Oops, posted in wrong journal...

[phelyan.livejournal.com]

Other methods:

• Use Linux or a pre-MacOS X Mac
  
• Completely switch off AutoPlay on your CD drive
  
• Use any flavour of Linux or Unix
  
• CD player with optical out / Soundcard with optical in
  
• In fact, any CD player to computer in (if you want)
  

Oh, dear... someone's gonna sue me now for stating the obvious.

[stilkil.livejournal.com]

er....this may be stupid of me.
But who turns on 'auto' anything in windows?

*scratches head*

[reddragdiva]

Microsoft. It's a default.

[stilkil.livejournal.com]

errr...yes...true....

But I always turn off auto anything. Seems the sensible option. I like to know what my computer is up to, (well as much as possible).

*scratches head again*

You mean people actually leave this stuff _on_?

Oh dear.

[reddragdiva]

This would be why the majority of Windows installations count as toxic waste. Unravel every molecule of DNA in your brane, it will.

heh

[stilkil.livejournal.com]

Every time the 'IT' dept put in yet another email restriction that impinges on my ability to 'do my job'(tm), and I ask them why, and they say, 'security', (this is on _outgoing_ mail mind you), I ask them, 'why are we running, 'Outlook-the-biggest-security-hole-known-to-man(tm)?', which is always met with 'blank look'(tm)..... Yes I know this isn't a sentence, but I've a very long understaffed week, and have drunk one bottle of red and finished off the vodka and its not yet close to midnight here.....

You know, when techs ring with 'issues' on their software, the first thing I ask is, 'are you running XP?'. If they say yes, I hit mute and laugh, then, politely, so they don't really notice, tell them its their own fault.....this is application specific, so please don't flame too hard....but XP is evil, real evil.

....oh dear....as an unrelated aside....Roy and HG, just had a male choir of 'no-man-under-60', do a very *cough* rauchy *cough* rendition of 'Rule Britantia' that involved the repetition of the word 'arse' and 'bang-bang-bang'.
You fill in the gaps......

[death4breakfast.livejournal.com]

Well, on my machine I've had it on, (The Auto Play thing) I've had it off, I've had it back on again...

I *hate* things starting up on me when all I'm doing is switching a CD in the drive, but OTOH Windows (98se) will start acting buggy if you don't have "auto Start" on.

Can somebody *please* break them up into about four companies *each* having Windows to start with combined with market pressure to force them to make an effort to make *their* version of Windows suck *less* over time. As opposed to the way they do it *now*.

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

Big red blobs. Is this not just another recurrence of the cue dot, but with knobs on.

And shurely with cinemas (cinemae?) set to go digital RSN, it'll just be a matter of potatoshopping them out?

[reddragdiva]

"Big red blobs. Is this not just another recurrence of the cue dot, but with knobs on."

Dunno - what's the link say?

"it'll just be a matter of potatoshopping them out?"

ITYM CinePaint. Think of it as restoration using the original tools.

[vatine]

Nono, the only country using offensively huge cue marks (there's one dot and one circle, normally, I am a trained projectionist and will geek film at you for hours, if you let me) is Korea (or was it viet nam?) that has an X as the motor start mark and a triangle as switch-over. In the middle of the frame. large enough to be about 60% of frame height. And non-projectionists still didn't see them!

[ruthi.livejournal.com]

Now you told me they are there, I *will* be able to see them. Damn you for rendering me unable to ignore what's right in front of my eyes.

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research

If holding down a shift key is research, I should apply for a few grants...